viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER NO.

TITLE

PAGE NO.

ABSTRACT

iii

LIST OF TABLES

xv

LIST OF FIGURES

xvii

LIST OF SYMBOLS AND ABBREVATIONS

xxi

INTRODUCTION

1.1

TRIBOLOGY

1.2

COMPOSITE MATERIALS

1.3

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPOSITE
MATERIALS

1.3.1 Composites based on Reinforcement

1.3.2 Composites based on Matrix Materials

1.3.2.1 Polymer matrix

composites (PMCs)

1.3.2.2 Ceramic matrix composites

(CMCs)

1.3.2.3 Metal matrix composites

(MMCs)
1.4

1.5

POLYMERS

1.4.1 Thermo Plastics

1.4.2 Thermosetting Plastics

1.4.3

Epoxy Resin

REINFORCEMENT MATERIALS

11

1.5.1 Kevlar Fiber

11

1.5.2 Boron Fiber

11

ix

CHAPTER NO.

TITLE

PAGE NO.

1.5.3 Glass Fiber

11

1.5.4 Carbon Fiber

12

1.6

FILLER MATERIALS

14

1.7

HYBRID COMPOSITES

14

1.8

WOVEN FABRICS

15

1.9

ADVANTAGES OF THE FIBER

REINFORCED POLYMER MATRIX
COMPOSITES

1.10

16

MANUFACTURING METHODS OF FIBER

REINFORCED POLYMER MATRIX

1.11

COMPOSITES

17

1.10.1

Hand Lay-Up and Spray Techniques

17

1.10.2

Filament Winding

17

1.10.3

Resin Transfer Molding (RTM)

18

1.10.4

Pultrusion

18

1.10.5

Autoclave-based Methods

19

BASIC CONCEPTS OF TRIBOLOGY

20

1.11.1

Wear

20

1.11.1.1 Adhesive wear

22

1.11.1.2 Abrasive wear

23

1.11.1.3 Fatigue wear

25

1.11.1.4 Erosive wear

25

1.11.1.5 Corrosive wear

25

Factors Affecting the Wear

26

1.11.2
1.12

CHAPTER SCHEMATA

27

CHAPTER NO.

TITLE

PAGE NO.

LITERATURE REVIEW

29

2.1

INTRODUCTION

29

2.2

MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF
FIBER REINFORCED POLYMER
MATRIX COMPOSITES

30

2.2.1 Effects due to the Reinforcement of

Fibers/Fillers on Unidirectional
Fiber Composites

30

2.2.2 Effects due to Fiber Length and

Orientations
2.2.3 Effects due to Bidirectional Fibers

33
36

2.2.4 Effects due to Bidirectional Fibers

with Fillers
2.3

DYNAMIC MECHANICAL ANALYSIS

2.4

FRICTION AND DRY SLIDING WEAR

39
41

BEHAVIOR OF FIBER REINFORCED

POLYMER MATRIX COMPOSITES

45

2.4.1 Wear and Friction Coefficient

45

2.4.2 Effect of Reinforcement of Fillers/

Fibers in Unidirectional Composites

46

2.4.3 Effect due to Fiber Length and

Fiber Orientation

51

2.4.4 Effects due to the Bidirectional

Composites

54

2.4.5 Effects due to the Bidirectional

Composites with Filler Materials
2.5

56

ABRASIVE WEAR BEHAVIOR OF FIBER

REINFORCED POLYMER MATRIX
COMPOSITES

58

xi

CHAPTER NO.

2.6
3

TITLE

PAGE NO.

2.5.1 Two-body Abrasive Wear Behavior

58

2.5.2 Three-body Abrasive Wear Behavior

62

AIM OF THE PRESENT STUDY

66

MATERIALS, PROCESSING AND

EXPERIMENTATION

68

3.1

INTRODUCTION

68

3.2

MATERIALS

68

3.2.1 Matrix Materials

68

3.2.2

Fiber Materials

69

3.2.3 Filler Materials

70

PREPARATION OF THE COMPOSITES

70

3.3.1 Preparation of Composite Test Samples

70

3.3

3.3.2 Carbon Fabric and Particulate

Reinforced Epoxy Composites
3.4

3.5

EXPERIMENTAL SETUP USED FOR

MECHANICAL TESTS

73

3.4.1 Hardness Test and Tensile Test

74

3.4.2 Flexural Test

74

EXPERIMENTAL SETUP USED FOR

DRY SLIDING WEAR TEST

3.6

3.7

71

75

EXPERIMENTAL SETUP USED FOR

ABRASIVE WEAR TEST

79

3.6.1 Two-Body Abrasion

79

3.6.2 Three-Body Abrasion

81

EXPERIMENTAL SETUP FOR

DYNAMIC MECHANICAL ANALYSIS

84

3.8

VISUAL MACRO OBSERVATION

85

3.9

SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY

85

xii

CHAPTER NO.

TITLE

PAGE NO.

MECHANICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF
UNFILLED AND SILANE-TREATED SILICON
CARBIDE (SiC) PARTICLES FILLED
CARBON FABRIC REINFORCED EPOXY
HYBRID COMPOSITES

87

4.1

INTRODUCTION

87

4.2

MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF THE

UNFILLED AND SILANE-TREATED
SiC FILLED C-E HYBRID COMPOSITES

88

4.2.1 Results and Discussion

88

4.2.1.1 Hardness

89

4.2.1.2 Tensile strength and

tensile modulus

90

4.2.1.3 Fractographic analysis

92

4.2.1.4 Flexural strength

96

4.3

DYNAMIC MECHANICAL ANALYSIS

4.4

SUMMARY

98
103

FRICTION AND DRY SLIDING WEAR

BEHAVIOR OF UNFILLED AND
SILANE-TREATED SILICON CARBIDE
(SiC) PARTICLES FILLED CARBON FABRIC
REINFORCED EPOXY MATRIX
HYBRID COMPOSITES

105

5.1

INTRODUCTION

105

5.2

FRICTION AND DRY SLIDE

WEAR BEHAVIOR

106

5.2.1 Result and Discussions

106

xiii

CHAPTER NO.

TITLE

PAGE NO.

5.2.1.1 Co-efficient of friction

106

5.2.1.2 Effect of sliding distance on

wear volume loss

109

5.2.1.3 Effect of applied load and

sliding velocity on the wear
volume loss

110

5.2.1.4 Effect of applied load on

5.3

specific wear rate

114

5.2.1.5 Worn surface morphology

116

SUMMARY

121

ABRASIVE WEAR BEHAVIOR OF

UNFILLED AND SILANE-TREATED
SILICON CARBIDE (SiC) PARTICLES
FILLED CARBON FABRIC REINFORCED
EPOXY MATRIX HYBRID COMPOSITES

123

6.1

INTRODUCTION

123

6.2

TWO-BODY ABRASIVE WEAR BEHAVIOR

123

6.2.1 Results and Discussions

124

6.3

6.2.1.1 Abrasive wear volume

124

6.2.1.2 Specific wear rate

128

6.2.1.3 Worn surface morphology

131

THREE-BODY ABRASIVE WEAR BEHAVIOR 136

6.3.1 Results and Discussions

6.4

136

6.3.1.1

Abrasive wear volume loss

136

6.3.1.2

Specific wear rate

139

6.3.1.3

Worn surface morphology

143

SUMMARY

147

xiv

CHAPTER NO.

TITLE

PAGE NO.

CONCLUSIONS
7.1

149

MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF UNFILLED

AND SILANE-TREATED SiC FILLED
C-E HYBRID COMPOSITES

7.2

149

DYNAMIC MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR

OF UNFILLED AND SILANE-TREATED
SiC FILLED C-E HYBRID COMPOSITES

7.3

150

FRICTION AND DRY SLIDING WEAR

BEHAVIOR OF UNFILLED AND
SILANE-TREATED SiC FILLED
C-E HYBRID COMPOSITES

7.4

151

ABRASIVE WEAR BEHAVIOR OF

UNFILLED AND SILANE- TREATED
SiC FILLED C-E HYBRID COMPOSITESTWO-BODY ABRASIVE WEAR BEHAVIOR

7.5

7.6

152

THREE-BODY ABRASIVE WEAR

BEHAVIOR

153

SCOPE FOR FUTURE WORK

154

REFERENCES

155

LIST OF PUBLICATIONS

168

CURRICULUM VITAE

169

xv

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE NO.

TITLE

PAGE NO.

1.1

Properties and applications of polymer materials

3.1

The ingredients of matrix system

69

3.2

Properties of carbon fibers

69

3.3

Physical and mechanical properties of

silicon carbide (SiC) particles

70

3.4

Composites selected for the present study

73

3.5

Details of the dry sliding wear conditions selected

for this study

3.6

The details of the two-body wear test conditions

followed for this study

3.7

89

DMA results of unfilled and silane-treated

SiC filled C-E composites

5.1

84

Mechanical properties of the unfilled and

silane-treated SiC filled C-E hybrid composites

4.2

80

The details of three-body wear test conditions

employed for this study

4.1

78

100

Co-efficient of friction values of unfilled and

silane-treated SiC filled C-E composites under the
influence of applied loads and sliding velocity

5.2

107

Wear volume loss of unfilled and silane-treated

SiC filled C-E composites under different loads/
sliding velocities

113

xvi

TABLE NO.

5.3

TITLE

PAGE NO.

Specific wear rate of unfilled and silane-treated

SiC filled C-E composites under different loads/
sliding velocities

6.1

Wear volume details of the C-E and

silane-treated SiC filled C-E composites

6.2

138

Specific wear rate of the C-E and SiC filled

C-E composites

6.3

115

141

Glass transition temperature and specific wear rate

of the composites

142

xvii

LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE NO.

TITLE

PAGE NO.

1.1

Classification of composite materials

1.2

(a) Epoxide group (b) Preparation of Epoxy resin

1.3

Carbon fabric geometry

1.4

Adhesive wear-contact areas of the two

sliding surfaces

1.5

16

22

(a) Two-body abrasive wear

(b) Three-body abrasive wear

24

3.1

Hand lay-up technique setup

71

3.2

Compression moulding

72

3.3

Processes involved in the preparation of composite

laminate

3.4

73

Schematic diagram of the Pin-On-Disc wear test rig

indicating the various parts of the wear setup

75

3.5

Photographic view of the Pin-On-Disc wear test rig

76

3.6

Composite sample with Pin assembly and the steel

countersurface on which sliding takes place

3.7

Photographic view of the two-body abrasive

wear process

3.8

3.11

80

Schematic diagram of three body rubber wheel

abrasive wear tester

3.10

80

(a) 150 grit and (b) 320 grit SiC papers used
before abrasion test

3.9

76

81

Photographic views of the Rubber wheel abrasive

wear tester rig

82

SEM image of the abrasive particles (Silica sand)

82

xviii

FIGURE NO.

TITLE

PAGE NO.

3.12

Schematic diagram of DMA Q800 instrument

84

3.13

Photographic view of the Scanning electron microscopy

85

3.14

Experimental flow chart

86

4.1

(a) SEM Micrograph of fractured C-E composite

with 130 X magnification (b) SEM Micrograph of
fractured C-E composite with 500 X magnification

4.2

93

(a) SEM photomicrograph of fractured 10SiC-C-E

composite with 130 X magnification(b) SEM
photomicrograph of fractured 10SiC-C-E composite
with 500 X magnification

4.3

94

(a) SEM photomicrograph of fractured C-E composite

with 500 X magnification (b) SEM photomicrograph
of fractured 5SiC-C-E composite with 500 X
magnification

4.4

Storage modulus, loss modulus and tan delta of

unfilled CE composite

4.5

101

Tan delta of unfilled and silane-treated

SiC-filled CE composites

5.1

100

Glass transition temperature of unfilled and

silane-treated SiC-filled CE composites

4.8

99

Storage modulus, loss modulus and tan delta of

10SiC-filled CE composite

4.7

99

Storage modulus, loss modulus and tan delta of

5SiC-filled CE composite

4.6

97

102

Effect of applied load on the coefficient of

friction of unfilled and silane-treated SiC-filled
C-E composites with sliding velocities (a) 2 m/s
and (b) 3 m/s

108

xix

FIGURE NO.

5.2

TITLE

PAGE NO.

Wear volume loss as a function of sliding

distance for C-E composites

5.3

110

Wear volume loss as a function of applied

load for composites at a sliding velocity
of (a) 2 m/s and (b) 3 m/s

5.4

111

Specific wear rate as a function of applied

load for composites at a sliding velocity of
(a) 2 m/s and (b) 3 m/s

5.5

116

SEM pictures of worn surface of unfilled

C-E composites at (a) 25 N, 2 m/s,
(b) 25 N, 3 m/s, (c) 75 N, 2 m/s and
(d) 75 N, 3 m/s (Arrow indicate the sliding direction)

5.6

117

SEM pictures of worn surface of 10Silane-treated

SiC filled C-E composites at (a) 25 N, 2 m/s,
(b) 25 N, 3 m/s, (c) 75 N, 2 m/s and
(d) 75 N, 3 m/s (Arrow indicate the sliding direction)

6.1

118

Wear volume loss of unfilled C-E and silane-treated

SiC filled C-E composites against the abrading
distances at (a) 10 N load,150 grit SiC abrasive
paper and (b) 20 N load,150 grit SiC abrasive paper

6.2

125

Wear volume loss of unfilled C-E and silane-treated

SiC filled C-E composites against the abrading
distances at (a) 10 N load, 320 grit SiC abrasive
paper and (b) 20 N load, 320 grit SiC abrasive paper

6.3

126

Specific wear rate of unfilled C-E and silane-treated

SiC filled C-E composites against the abrading
distances at (a) 10 N load,150 grit SiC abrasive
paper and (b) 20 N load,150 grit SiC abrasive paper

129

xx

FIGURE NO.

6.4

TITLE

PAGE NO.

Specific wear rate of unfilled C-E and silane-treated

SiC filled C-E composites against the abrading
distancesat (a) 10 N load, 320 grit SiC abrasive paper
and (b) 20 N load, 320 grit SiC abrasive paper

6.5

130

SEM pictures of worn surfaces of unfilled

C-E composites abraded against 150 grit abrasive
paper (a) 75 m and (b) 225 m

6.6

132

SEM pictures of worn surfaces of unfilled

C-E composites abraded against 320 grit
abrasive paper (a) 75 m and (b) 225 m

6.7

133

SEM pictures of worn surfaces of silane-treated

SiC filled C-E composites abraded against
150 grit abrasive paper (a) 75 m and (b) 225 m

6.8

134

SEM pictures of worn surfaces of silane-treated

SiC filled C-E hybrid composites abraded against
325 grit abrasive paper (a) 75 m and (b) 225 m

6.9

Typical worn surfaces of unfilled and silane-treated

SiC-filled CE samples

6.10

135
136

Wear volume loss of C-E and silane-treated

SiC-filled CE composites at a load of
(a) 25 N and (b) 35 N

6.11

137

Specific wear rate of unfilled and silane-treated

SiC-filled CE composites at a load of
(a) 25 N and (b) 35 N

6.12

Photomicrographs of unfilled CE samples at

(a) 25 N load and (b) 35 N load

6.13

144

Photomicrographs of 5SiC-filled CE samples at

(a) 25 N load and (b) 35 N load

6.14

140

145

Photomicrographs of 10 SiC-filled CE samples

at (a) 25 N load and (b) 35N load

146

xxi

LIST OF SYMBOLS AND ABBREVATIONS

Symbols

Abrading distance

Applied load

GPa

Giga Pascal

Tg

Glass transition temperature

Gram

g/cm3

gram per cubic centimeter

kg

Kilogram

MPa

Mega Pascal

Meter

m/s

meter per second

Micro meter

mm

Milli meter

Newton

percentage

Ks

Specific wear rate

temperature in Celsius

Wear volume

xxii

Abbreviations

AFS

American Foundarymens Society

Ag2S

Silver Sulphide

Al

Aluminium

Al2O3

Alumina

ASTM

American Society of Testing Materials

AP-O

Anti-Parallel Orientation

BaSO4

Barium Sulphate

CF

Carbon Fiber

CaCO3

Calcium Carbonate

CaF2

Calcium Fluoride

C-E

Carbon fabric reinforced epoxy matrix composites

C-V

Carbon vinyl ester

CFRC

Carbon Fiber Reinforced Composite

CGRP

Chopped strand mat Glass Fiber Reinforced Polyester

(CGRP)

CHB

Composite Hemispherical Bearing (CHB)

CMCs

Ceramic matrix composites

CNT

Carbon Nanotube

CSP

Cenosphere

Cu

Copper

CuS

Cuprous sulphide

DETA

Diethylene triamine

DGEBA

Diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A

DMA

Dynamic Mechanical Analysis

DMTA

Dynamic Mechanical and Thermal Analyzer

8HS

Eight Harness Satin

EG

Expanded Graphite (EG)

ETFE

Ethylene Tetrafluroethylene

xxiii

Milled-EG

Expanded-Milled Graphite

Fe

Ferrous

FRPCs

Fiber Reinforced Polymeric Composites

FRP

Fiber reinforced polymer

GFRP

Glass Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Polymer

G-E

Glass-Epoxy Composites

G-V

Glass Vinyl ester

Gr

Graphite

HDPE

High Density Polyethylene

ILSS

Inter Laminar Shear Strength (ILSS)

MgCO3

Magnesium carbonate

MMCs

Metal matrix composites

MoS2

Molybdenum disulfide

N-O

Normal orientation

P-O

Parallel Orientation

PA66/PP

Polyamide66/polypropylene

PAEKs

Polyaryletherketones

PBD

Pine Bark Dust

PbS

Lead Sulphide

PEEK

Polyetheretherketone

PEI

Polyetherimide

PEK

Polyetherketone

PEKK

Polyetherketoneketone

PET

Poly Ethylene Terepthalate

PI

Polyimide

PMCs

Polymer matrix composites

PP

Polypropylene (PP)

PPS

Polyphenylene Sulfide

PPS

Polyphenylene sulfide

PTFE

Polytetrafluoroethylene

xxiv

PTFE

Polytetrafluoroethylene

PW

Plain Weave

RGF-Epoxy -

Random Glass Fiber-Epoxy Resin

RWAT

Rubber Wheel Abrasion Test

SCF

Short Carbon Fibers

SEM

Scanning Electron Microscopy

SFRP

Short Fiber Reinforced Polymers

SGF

Short Glass Fibers

SFRR

Short-Fiber-Reinforced Chloroprene Rubber Composites

SiC

Silicon Carbide

SiO2

Silicon Dioxide

GRP

Synthetic R-glass fiber

SnS

Tin Sulphide

Ta/Nbc

Tantalum /Niobium Carbide

TETA

Triethylene Tetramine

TiC

Titanium Carbide

TiN

TitaniumNitride

TiO

Titanium Oxide

WC

Tungsten Carbide

C3D/EP

Three Dimensional carbon fabric reinforced epoxy resin

3-D G-V

Three Dimensional Glass fiber- Vinyl ester composites

2-D G-V

Two Dimensional Glass fiber- Vinyl ester composites

VC

Vanadium Carbide

ZrO

Zirconium Oxide

10 SiC-C-E -

10% SiC filled carbon-epoxy composites

5 SiC-C-E

5% SiC filled carbon-epoxy composites